Sadly, Research Doesn't Find All Answers

It's disturbing that a search of Pennsylvania death certificates on Ancestry.com shows that close to 5,000 people who died between 1906 and 1944 were not identified. Simply listed as "Unknown Man" or "Unknown Female," they basically disappeared.

Here are some examples:

• Unknown man, about 75 years old, died in Philadelphia of heart disease on March 12, 1916
• Unknown woman, about 50 years old, died in Wilkes-Barre of acute alcoholism on January 31, 1930
• Unknown male child, found along the river in Harrisburg, February 20, 1920
• Unknown foreigner, died in Uniontown Hospital after lower limbs were crushed by a streetcar, September 14, 1907

Their family at the time probably never knew what happened, and those searching for them today will never know. It's heartbreaking.